Shironeko has appeared! All is satisfied! Kirino fans rejoice at the increased amount of affection, but Kuroneko fans also cheer as numerous amounts of hint-bombs satisfy their need for more cute sophistication! However, this episode was flawed by the sudden drop in animation quality, where face were badly proportioned and the overall crispness of the show was dented. Let’s dive in and look at these issues, shall we?

OP5: 「Reunion」 by ClariS

Kirino is so close to the happiness she seeks, yet continues to push it away with excuses and physical abuse.

Hopefully last episode didn’t leave people in too much of a rush–it’s been clear that Kirino was asking Kyousuke a favor to avoid another awkward encounter. This time it happens to be her modelling agent who’s bent on making Kirino into a supermodel of models, where even 500 thousand yen is not an issue in convincing Kirino. As such, the process of Oreimo’s story repeats once more–Kyousuke has to deal with Kirino’s grateful yet biting personality as he sticks up for her, while Kirino herself has to find the strength not to be completely mean to her caring brother. Everything is pretty standard, except this time…a subtle difference permeates the air of this specific situation.

Click for some full-sized fashionable goodness!

She is a master of living out multiple lives after all.

Though just as physically violent as she’s always been as well as releasing sporadic amounts of affection before quickly covering it up, a different side of Kirino is beginning to show itself. If you notice throughout the episode, we actually don’t see much of Kirino’s manager on their date. Even though there is a possibility that their manager was stalking them, the show hints that this wasn’t the case. While both of them were probably fueled by overt paranoia, I suspect that one of them had deeper intentions going into this opportunity. After all, if Kyousuke realized that the coast was clear, what incentive would there be for him to continue putting up this act?

Kirino wanted this date to go nicely, specifically because it was a chance, or rather an excuse to be closer to Kyousuke. It was a chance to have a comfortable upper hand over Manami who she perceives as having stolen Kyousuke away from her (or so I guess). It was a chance for her to catch up to Kuroneko, making up for all the lost time she had in America. There are so many other ways that Kirino could’ve gone about resolving this situation, but she chose this one above all others, because, as with every other request she’s made, it acted with double purpose, allowing her to force herself to be close to the brother she cares about.

It’s understandable why Kirino has such resentment, but this was a dick reaction, if I say so myself.

Movies are stereotypical, but there’s a reason why people still choose them as a good date idea.

One on hand we have two friends who have bonded over modeling; on the other hand, we have elbows out of jealousy and embarrassment.

And as such, that’s exactly why we’re seeing these reactions out of Kirino in the later half. She truly enjoyed being with her brother, and as such was deeply hurt when Kyousuke proclaimed he wouldn’t have wanted to do it again. Hell, I’d be hurt in that situation too if I looked up to my brother like that. Thus, it is clear as day why Kirino is backlashing like this towards Kyousuke, though at this point she probably knows just how much she’s emotionally hurt him by teasing him like this about a “boyfriend”. While Kirino can indeed be a super-bitch towards Kyosuke, such moments come from the gut reactions she produces rather than any actual feelings she has towards him. She knows just how kind and caring her brother is, but the attachment she generates because of that can cross the line. For all the pleasures we derive in seeing Kuroneko and Kyousuke casually flirt/friend with one another, it causes an equal amount of sadness and loneliness in Kirino.

Alright, this was arguably the best part of the episode.

Perhaps this came as a close second? So adorable! ;_;

This only serves as one reminder for me: I’ve never taken anyone to a Purikura myself! D:

I feel like this face applies to a lot of college students right now.

I’d have that expression too if I saw my crush with her younger brother. Note to self: find out if crush has younger brother.

The only thing that’s missing here is the stereotypical tear running down the cheek.

Here’s a picture of some more sibling love/rivalry. Here’s a picture of Ruri pre-Shironeko. #3amsleepyhead

The face that the majority has been waiting for! Luckily her facial quality was not compromised this episode.

The faces of a conflicted sibling-ship.

I apologize if I’ve expanded much about Kirino and not much about the beloved Shironeko, but admittedly much of this episode focused on Kirino’s evergrowing jealousy. You guys can compensate for me in the comments ^^. I do hope that Kuroneko receives even more attention in the next following episodes, especially considering how she’s still waiting for a proper answer back, but the flirtatious stills provided to us serve as tribute enough for this week. Hopefully Kirino’s “boyfriend” will inspire Kyousuke and Kuroneko to resolve their own elephants in the room, finally satisfying what many a fan have been waiting for. Again, the show hints that we need only see one step below the surface to see the truth–that Kirino’s boyfriend is anything but the real deal, most likely as a way to guilt Kyousuke into all sorts of feelings. Alas, that won’t be enough to place a wedge between her brother and her friend–the side characters have finally given way for the main plot, both in terms of Kirino’s masterful plot to jelly up Kyousuke, as well as Kuroneko’s ever-strong patience for Kyousuke to finally man up and face their relationship head-on.

Even though Saturday and Sunday were killer in terms of blogging, I have to struggle to post this…at 3 in the morning :P. It’s my duty to Oreimo fans to post this as soon as I sanely can!

On that note, sorry guys for the delay: I was at an academic conference. Although I managed to watch the episode while people were giving poster presentations, I didn’t get to write and construct the post until later after.

I was wondering if you were going to just skip over the Comiket moments because it seemed like a side story that was tacked onto the episode as an after-thought, but then I see you included a lot of that in stills. Dat Shironeko face when Kyousuke closed in on her just made me feel safe that their relationship will continue to go in the right direction. The chemistry is so there.

Wouldn’t it be rather Shironeko? I loved her elation when she has sold-out the book!
I wonder about the real boyfriend… I guess he is from showbusiness so he cant be shown up publicly to have girlfriend…
Gotta love how the “pair” kept on bumping into all the wrong people during the “date”.
Using lines from dating sim in a date with Kirino = wrong genre savvy…

Well not everyone but more definitely do but it’s not like all of us Kuroneko lovers hate Kirino or anything.Those 4 almost Kirino-less OVAs were nice & all but I’d personaly find half or more of the entire series being like that to be a bit boring.It just wouldn’t be OreImo withouth Kirino so despite being on the Kuroneko ship I’m actually quite pleased with the recent Kirino focused eps as well.

Still,I’m glad things are finally moving forward and I hope it’ll stay that way we won’t be getting many more(or preferably none at all) “breather episodes” till the end.Unless of course,they plan on OreImo S3 which I’m all down for :P

I myself like Kirino for various reasons, but this episode clearly pans out with Kirino being conflicted in likeability at best, whereas Shironeko outright pulls into the lead. I don’t think EVERYONE prefers Kuroneko over Kirino (I am one of them in fact).

Like many others have said, it’s undeniable how large Kuroneko’s fanbase is compared to any other character in Oreimo. Today’s episode definitely catered to that large fanbase ever so lightly after what’s been a drought for them.

I don’t see how anyone can possibly not get the love Kuroneko has received. If you’re talking about Kuroneko’s chuunibyou behaviour, she’s not been displaying it too much lately, and besides, compared to Kirino’s bitchy behaviour, it makes Kuroneko’s chuunibyou-ness rather angelic.

Kirino’s and Kuroneko’s fanbases are actually closer than one would think surprisingly. For what it’s worth, in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! female character rankings Kuroneko’s placed 4th and 6th the last two years while Kirino’s been 7th (Tied with Senjougahara Hitagi) and 9th.

They both have bitchy personalities (Kuroneko obviously less so), however Kuroneko seems to soften to people she gets to know better since her bitchiness comes more from being anti-social as opposed to Kirino who gets bitchier the more she opens up to the person (for now). Not to mention she doesn’t react to things with violence (which viewers seem to take more personally than the actual characters themselves).

Don´t you dare compare Naru Narusegawa with Kirino!. Naru was a perfect tsundere where Kirino just keeps giving me reasons to hate her; for god sakes, Kyousuke should have a statue erected for what he has endured to help that ungrateful little sister. I just want to know why she keeps threating Kyouseke worse than a dog, the guy doesn´t deserve it.

Kirino is 90% perverted bitch, 10% perverted tsundere. You simply have to love bitches to like Kirino. I have no problem with that whatsoever, but I also think liking her is just dumb, wasted thoughts. So you know how I feel about Kyousuke – especially since he basically can have Kuroneko in his back pocket (or front :p) if he would just leave that silly bitch to her perverted devices.

This will probably be the only thing I ever speak on this series, it’s just too ~yawn~ for me to actually give a damn about anything else going on in it.

But more importantly nice insight Zanibas, I didn’t see it that way. I seriously was also assuming Kirino’s manager was lurking about during their date. It was also nice to see that cosplayer Bridget again. I actually thought Bridget was just a one time occurence in the story. After the treatment she got in season 1 from Kanako’s b*tching, I really felt sorry for Bridget so color me surprised to see her here. And to think that she’s a professional model too(at least that’s what I got from this episode), and is getting along with Kanako even.

I’m basing my assumptions based on what my gut is telling me: new character? Kirino hinting that she has a boyfriend? It just seems to piece together so far. I actually don’t know what’s going on with Kirino’s plans right now.

That’s actually totally my bad. I thought you had novel knowledge since you immediately identified him as the “boyfriend”. I figured it was kind of a spoiler and brought it to your attention. I’m really sorry for the spoilers.

Cuteness overload, dying soon, too much sugar and sweet!!! Bridget being a adorable little girl who is so innocent and Shironeko just a polar opposite. The cuteness level here is too high!!! Now if only Kirino is a bit less bitchy.

*Sigh*Damn you all,konoyaro!Kirino isn’t that bad you know!(even though her attitude especially toward Kyou-san is too harsh…)I only see her as the ULTIMATE TSUNDERE EVER!And weirdly,I kinda like that aspect of her.
Well,besides the show with Shironeko and Ayase,I’m also hoping for an extra episode where Kyousuke is dreaming of HIS Kirino on MODE PERFECT SISTER,just like the one(with non-colored hair)in the first episode of the first season(really find Kirino cute when I first saw her,the non-colored hair that is)

ugh, such love and hate with this series. seriously, the only thing i hate more than kirino is the guy kyou becomes around her. at least her bitchy attitude has some grounding in reality… but the way he is completely enabling that sort of behavior and well, how he’s just turning too much into creepy siscon. i almost hate the show for having such good side characters and relationships because that’s the only reason i’m sticking around (i really just want another manami episode).

And how is all this exactly Kyousuke’s fault? Kyousuke only became the “perv” that he is today only thanks to Kirino’s incessant indoctrinating into her otaku ways.

The siblings were kind of estranged when the series started (as hinted in the opening flashback scene in episode 1 of this second season), and if it wasn’t for Kyousuke stumbling upon Kirino’s Meruru DVDs, the whole story would never have started. As we have it, Kirino has found the one way she could finally get along with her brother, to the point of her indoctrinating him with all her otaku ways.

Let’s just say Kyousuke is just one of those that gets converted too easily. Now he’s one of anime’s best known “gentlemen” (metaphor for “openly perverted and proud about it”).

Once he gets over Kirino’s bitchiness, the plus side to all this is that Kyousuke gets to know many interesting friends from Kirino’s otaku side, and all sorts of relationships open up as a result.

i mean, it’s nice of him to play the games so his sister has someone to talk to them about but it’s not like playing these games is going to turn someone into a siscon… you can say kirino indoctrinated him all you want but the way i see it is he willingly became apart of it for her sake and because he saw how much fun otaku culture could be (thanks to saori and ruri). it’s not hard to say no to your younger sibling and that’s my problem with him. he turns into a whiny, cowering ball of suck whenever she’s around and seems to live and die with her acceptance. don’t even get me started on that jealous staircase scene when he asked if “she really had a boyfriend.” i’m not saying it’s his responsibility to change her into a kinder and more well-rounded individual (though the way he carries on around her maybe he thinks otherwise) but his behavior is openly encouraging her to be, well, a bitch.

i mean, it’s nice of him to play the games so his sister has someone to talk to them about but it’s not like playing these games is going to turn someone into a siscon… you can say kirino indoctrinated him all you want but the way i see it is he willingly became apart of it for her sake and because he saw how much fun otaku culture could be (thanks to saori and ruri).

Willing or not, still doesn’t change the fact that without Kirino’s indoctrination, Kyousuke wouldn’t be the perv that we know today.

it’s not hard to say no to your younger sibling and that’s my problem with him. he turns into a whiny, cowering ball of suck whenever she’s around and seems to live and die with her acceptance.

I’ll give you that Kyousuke does seem to have a masochistic side to him, he moans a lot about how annoying and bitchy his sister is within his narrative monologues, but rarely never speaks up and always sucks up to his sister’s demands. Deep down inside, he just doesn’t want to be alienated from his sister just as Kirino doesn’t want to be alienated with her brother, the problem is they’ve been so estranged for so long they’re still figuring out the right way to convey their feelings.

don’t even get me started on that jealous staircase scene when he asked if “she really had a boyfriend.” i’m not saying it’s his responsibility to change her into a kinder and more well-rounded individual (though the way he carries on around her maybe he thinks otherwise) but his behavior is openly encouraging her to be, well, a bitch.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with a possessive brother being all worryingly jealous of the fact his sister may have a boyfriend and thus no longer spend time with him.

The few minutes of Kyousuke with KuroShironeko saves me from the amount of facepalmed moment in this episode.
Jeez, Kyousuke is becoming pretty much a joke character when he’s with Kirino or even Ayase, just look at how likeable Kyousuke in this part.

aww no picture of the anime club towards the end of the episode ;_; that was another scene (aside from kureneko) that saved my sanity!!!! Honestly they need to be featured more those were the best episodes in the entire run of this show.

I’ll be the first to say that I really liked season 1 of this series. But season 2 pains me to watch ohhhh so much. I’m not sure how everyone else views this show, but for me this show wasn’t about being a siscon. Rather it provided for a unique twist to an uncommon brother-sister relation. I hate how this series is trying to use the siscon thing as its main selling point and it annoys the living day-lights out of me.

IMO, what made S1 was the plot and execution of emotionally intense moments. Kyousuke vs. his dad. Kyousuke + Kuroneko vs. the company. Kyousuke vs. Ayase: although here they did play the “love each other” card, but we had the general feeling that it was fake and just to save Kirino, in this episode however it doesn’t feel that way at all and I can’t help but facepalm.

With this in mind, Kyousuke is fundamental to the series, so how he behaves determines the quality of this season. In S1 he had more of a “not interested, but you can rely on me when push comes to shove.” He was also more consistent. In this episode, Kyousuke was killing me with his inconsistencies. I couldn’t tell if he liked his sister or not. At some points he seems to really want to go on a date with her, then at other times he’s all like “this is a drag.”

Really I think the execution is off this season, but I’ll still watch to the end. Note that this is all just my personal opinion.

Those examples that you cited was Kyousuke in his early stages of Kirino’s otaku indoctrination. By the end of season 1, Kyousuke has more or less been converted into a “true” otaku, whether he realizes it or not.

So heading into season 2, the way Kyousuke behaves is obviously going to be different to how he has behaved in season 1. The only consistency is that he is still there for his sister no matter how bitchy she becomes, despite his own denials (from his novel narration), though the way he does it has become significantly different.

I don’t mean consistency between last season and this season, although I could probably make a case for that too.

In this instance however, I meant how as her set up his date, he seemed to be all gaga over Kirino, then during the date he’s all like “I’m only here because she’s watching.” Then at other times during date he seems to be gaga over her again. Then when I think he doesn’t care, he goes and gets all jealous over his sister’s boyfriend.

Here’s where I can make the case for the inconsistency between seasons; last season he helped his sister because he’s the big brother, because he’s nice. Now it seems like he’s actually a siscon. Of course he’s at least part otaku now, but I don’t mind that, that seems natural. What seems unnatural and inconsistent is his siscon.

See I would buy that for the most part, had this been last season. But with him getting all lovey-dovey with her, and all jealous, I’m very skeptical as to his siscon being completely innocent.

Now this fine line that Kyousuke seems to be treading is probably intentional, and thus is up for interpretation and will lead to differing in opinions. Either way I feel Kyousuke is less the man he was in S1, and a little more pathetic; he almost seems to be insecure now. I liked how he was the bed-rock of S1, how he was the adamant character who could be relied on and was relied on.

See I would buy that for the most part, had this been last season. But with him getting all lovey-dovey with her, and all jealous, I’m very skeptical as to his siscon being completely innocent.

Whoever said Kyousuke’s siscon was innocent? Yes, he’s become more or less a creep, THANKS TO HIS EQUALLY CREEPY SISTER, who only hides it better than he does.

Now this fine line that Kyousuke seems to be treading is probably intentional, and thus is up for interpretation and will lead to differing in opinions. Either way I feel Kyousuke is less the man he was in S1, and a little more pathetic; he almost seems to be insecure now. I liked how he was the bed-rock of S1, how he was the adamant character who could be relied on and was relied on.

And what seems to be the problem here? Kyousuke’s journey into “wimpish-dom” has been destined since the end of season 1, with great comical effect, with him accomplishing his supposed “final life consultation” for Kirino. So now he has fallen into complacency once again, but when push comes to shove, he will still man up, but probably no longer in the “dignified” way as you would wish him to.

And what you just said is exactly my point! Kyousuke is a shade of his former glory and is the bane of this season. Like I said, it seems this season is making the siscon the main selling point of this season and I don’t like that. It should only be hinted at, but a comfortable distance maintained. It should only be a unique twist to a good plot.

Hmm, & I just read up on the Light Novel translation at Baka-Tsuki.
Those who have already read the LNs & watched this episode, what are your opinions?
Faithful adaptation? Lacking in some parts?
Based on the episode alone, I find it rather decent.Show Spoiler ▼

Though it seems some good parts were skipped from the LN’s, like the club president who didn’t take a bath for 3 days, or Kohei Akagi getting stuck in his sister’s closet while she plays eroge.
As for future events, I wonder if the Oreimo team would animate the scene where Ayase handcuffs Kyousoke when she finds about the date. =p

Oh hey. I rechecked, & yup, there was a small scene for that. Thanks! =)
But it was in the 2nd episode’s OP instead.Show Spoiler ▼

And the 2nd episode itself focusing on Ayase,that scene must have been a foreshadow of the future I guess.

I did google up on that, & apparently that’s what they’re aiming for.
Last novel should come out the same time as the last episode.Show Spoiler ▼

Personally for the anime, since Season 1 had alternate endings (Good End & True Route), I’m kind of hoping that Season 2 could have alternate endings like the 2nd Oreimo game for the PSP. Eg who Kyousuke finally ends up with.

really? or missing /sarcasm flag? .. i think they should be walking closer to each other if they wanted to appear as a real couple … i mean.. the point of going arm on arm is to be closer to the other , right? o.O

As long as it’s fine,it’s right.I’m fond of Kuroneko,I’m fond of Ayase,I’m fond of Saori,I’m fond of Kirino,I’m fond of Kanako,I’m fond of Kyousuke(really the best BROTHER EVER!I couldn’t be no match for him for supporting Kirino’s attitude),well I’m fond of everyone in Oreimo.So no Discrimination for me.^^